Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s 2024 Holiday Card: The Deeper Meaning of the Photos They Chose

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry featured their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet in their holiday card for the first time in years, but the five other photos they chose were also loaded with meaning.

On Dec. 16, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex sent season’s greetings by issuing a collage-style card featuring six pictures on a deep green background. 

“On behalf of the office of Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Archewell Productions and Archewell Foundation,” said the message from the couple’s office, production company and charitable foundation. “We wish you a very happy holiday season and a joyful new year.” 

Prince Harry, 40, and Meghan, 43, snuck a surprise into the montage by incorporating an image with their son Prince Archie, 5, and daughter Princess Lilibet, 3. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are raising their young children outside of the limelight in Montecito, California, making it unexpected that the kids were included in the holiday montage. The outdoor snap captured the children from behind as they excitedly ran towards their parents, who had their arms open. Prince Harry and Meghan looked at their children with love, and the family’s three dogs were at their feet. 

Though the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have sent pictures with their kids as their holiday greetings previously, they hadn’t done so since 2021. Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet were last seen briefly in some scenes of their parents’ docuseries Harry & Meghan on Netflix, which debuted in December 2022. Two years later, Archie and Lilibet looked that much more grown up. Both kids were taller, and Lilibet’s hair was long, calling back to Harry’s previous comment that his children were “blessed with their mother’s thick hair.”

The shot didn’t show Archie and Lili’s faces, aligning with Harry and Meghan’s conscientious choice to keep their kids’ lives private.

“Harry has been reluctant to show his children publicly, not out of a desire to hide them but to protect their privacy and safety from potential threats. He wants them to lead as normal a life as possible without the fear of kidnapping or harm,” a friend told PEOPLE over the summer. 

“As a dad and husband, Harry is determined to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself,” the friend said, referring to the fate of Prince Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana.

The couple spread cheer by bringing their kids into the holiday card in a careful way this year, but it’s not the only one the family is sending this season! PEOPLE understands that this card is meant for professional use, and that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex sent a separate, private card to close friends and family which will not be shared publicly.

The other five pictures in Prince Harry and Meghan’s multi-photo card were from the couple’s trips to Nigeria in May and Colombia in August. The five pictures were all previously seen and captured the couple on the ground during each excursion. 

Photos chosen from the trip to Colombia included Meghan hugging a young student at Colegio La Giralda, Harry kissing Meghan’s head in a tender moment at a stop at the National Centre for the Arts in Bogotá and the couple in San Basilio de Palenque near Cartagena, established as the first free African town in the Americas in 1619. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex visited Colombia to further the work of their charitable Archewell Foundation and other close causes, and the foundation said it gave contributions to benefit Colegio La Giralda and San Basilio de Palenque.

The shots in the card from the trip to Nigeria included Prince Harry, a British Army veteran and founding patron of the Invictus Games, holding hands with a wounded soldier at the Nigerian Army Reference Hospital Kaduna. The empathetic move was reminiscent of Princess Diana’s warm way, and Prince Harry was totally focused on the soldier in a video captured by PEOPLE’s chief foreign correspondent Simon Perry, who exclusively covered the trip. The photo was taken by Harry and Meghan’s friend and celebrated photographer Misan Harriman.

“Are they helping you? Are you feeling better?” Prince Harry asked at the bedside of Private Habu Sadiq. “Get better, be strong,” Harry told the soldier, who had suffered from impaired eyesight due to a blast.

The other picture in the holiday card of Harry and Meghan in Nigeria showed the couple sharing a laugh at Lightway Academy in Abuja, which was the first stop of the trip. The trip to Nigeria was memorable as their first official international tour since stepping back from their royal roles in 2020. The couple’s school visit coincided with the announcement of the expansion of the partnership between GEANCO and the Archewell Foundation, and it was revealed then that Archewell’s existing initiative dedicated to serving girls and young women in Nigeria with menstrual health products and educational services would now include mental health support for young people.

Like the trip to Colombia, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Nigeria tour was all about furthering Archwell’s philanthropic work, and Prince Harry opened up to PEOPLE about the power of direct connection. 

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“It is hugely important for us to meet directly with people, supporting our causes and listening, in order to bring about solutions, support and positive change,” the Duke of Sussex said in Nigeria. 

“There’s only so much one can do from home and over Zoom, so we look forward to traveling more because the work matters. Whether it’s the Archewell Foundation, Invictus or any of our other causes, there will always be reasons to meet the people at the heart of our work,” he said.

Looking forward to the future, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are anticipating more travel for their core work.